


Beach City Blues

by wordbending



Series: Her Universe [4]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Trans Female Character, a tiny bit of angst, a ton of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 14:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9275663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordbending/pseuds/wordbending
Summary: It's a hot, hot, hot day in Beach City. But Steven has reasons to brave the heat - one, wearing a cute outfit. Two, fry bits. Three, finding out just why Lapis Lazuli is standing on the beach.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by an anon for [this kissing art meme](http://soupery.tumblr.com/post/155348704959/a-softer-sequel-to-this-please-dont-repost) \- they requested non-romantic Steven + Lapis, 3C!
> 
> (Is turning an art meme into a writing meme cheating?)

It was _not_ an average day in Beach City. For one thing, it was hot! It was so, so hot! Steven had been underneath the Earth's crust and stood next to flowing magmafalls, several times even, and both of those _still_ didn't feel as hot as this!

But Steven had three important reasons to brave the heat anyway - one, wearing a cute bonnet, big heart-shaped sunglasses, and a yellow sundress, which was Very Accomplished (and she looked pretty darn good, in her humble opinion). Two, getting some good old fashioned fry bits and a refreshing cup of Generic Soda (tm).

And now that she was out by the ocean, there was the unintended third reason - finding out what was going on with Lapis Lazuli, who was standing in front of it. Or, well, it was more like the ocean was standing around _her._ Most of it had receded from the heat and low tides, leaving seashells and starfish strewn around the now dry shorebed, but even then, she was far enough down the shore that she should have been ankle deep.

Instead, she was surrounded by a half-circle of sand, formed as the water refused to come within a foot of her. The water at the edges of the circle lapped against thin air, as if she'd placed an invisible wall around herself, while right next to her, a fish flopped uselessly.

Steven started to jog over, holding her bonnet to her head so it wouldn't tumble off, slowing to a near walk when her sandals met the likely very, very hot sand. Lapis seemed to hear her footsteps, because Steven saw her stiffen, her shoulders raising, until she cocked her head over her shoulder, saw who it was, and visibly relaxed.

"Steven," she said, quietly, as if to confirm it to herself.

"Lapis!" Steven shouted, waving her free hand as she carefully stepped over a hermit crab. For good measure, she shouted again, picking up the pace a bit. "Lapis!"

When Steven finally arrived, she screeched to a stop in front of Lapis, kicking up a cloud of sand. Lapis crouched down on her knees, so that she was at the level of Steven's heart-shaped sunglasses, and smiled - a soft, gentle smile, Steven noticed, rather than the wider, more genuine smiles Lapis usually had around her.

"Um..." Steven started to say. "You should probably put that fish back."

She pointed to it and, for effect, it flopped again.

"What?" said Lapis, following her finger until she finally seemed to notice it. Without Lapis even moving a hand, a tiny wave of water flowed out from the ocean, slid underneath it, and carried it back to... wherever in the ocean that fish lived, Steven assumed.

"Oh," said Lapis. "Sorry."

"It's OK!"

Lapis turned back towards her, still smiling that soft smile.

"Why are you out here, Steven?"

"That's what I was gonna ask _you!"_ Steven exclaimed, raising her arms. "Besides, I live here."

"Oh, right," Lapis replied, wincing. Steven gave her a quizzical look, worried she'd said the wrong thing, and Lapis looked away and started to hug herself. "I... I wanted to be alone for a while."

"Oh," said Steven, feeling a sudden pang of guilt. "Sorry."

"It's OK." Lapis sighed, staring out over the ocean. "I just didn't think Peridot would... understand."

"Maybe not," Steven agreed, but she pressed on anyway. "But you could give her a chance sometime? When you... feel up to it, I guess."

"Maybe."

Without looking back at Steven, Lapis sat down in the sand, crossing an arm over her leg. She contined to stare out at the ocean, at the sun burning large and hot above, casting reflections over its surface. The semicircle of ocean nearby them crept away as she moved.

Steven sat down next to her, even though she knew it'd get the bottom of her nice yellow sundress covered in sand, and took off her silly-looking sunglasses. She sat them at her side and made a mental reminder not to forget them later - she'd won them with Pearl Points, after all!

"Ah..." she started to say, tapping her fingers on the sand. "It's OK if you don't want to talk about it, but..."

"I know. It's... foolish. To still feel this way."

Steven turned towards her, raising both hands.

"No, no, I wasn't gonna say that! It makes perfect sense."

Lapis frowned.

"To tell the truth," Steven continued. Suddenly, she found it hard to look at Lapis, so she turned back towards the ocean and stared out at it too. "I feel the same way. There's a lot of things I'm... scared about."

The water next to her receded further, and her eyes glanced back towards Lapis, who had scooted closer. Her expression looked a little more than concerned - it looked like it was approaching something like terrified - and she had one arm raised, hand outstretched towards Steven's face.

"No, no, it's not any _body!"_ Steven tried to explain, as reassuringly as she could manage. "Or even any _thing._ It's a lot of... stuff. Messy, complicated... stuff."

Lapis didn't look entirely reassured, but Steven brightened. She suddenly had an idea and, before Lapis could back away or she could think better of it, she acted on it - she rushed forward, closing her eyes tightly, and planted a kiss on Lapis' cheek.

Lapis didn't respond at first - maybe she hadn't understood it - but then Steven made a _pbbbbbbbt_ sound, and Lapis broke into giggles, which broke into uproarious laughter as she playfully pushed Steven away. Undaunted, Steven only continued to _pbbbbbbbbbbbt._

"See?" she said eventually, wiping spit off her lip gloss and grinning at Lapis when they both stopped to catch their breaths. "There's nothing to be worried about!"

"I guess not," Lapis replied, standing back up to her feet and smiling a wide smile down at her. "Still silly old Steven."

"Still silly _young_ Steven!" Steven corrected. "And you're still Lapis!"

Lapis looked back out towards the ocean for a moment.

"Yeah. Still Lapis."

She turned back towards Steven once more, but this time, she extended a hand towards her.

"Want to come back home with me? Peridot would be... excited to see you."

Steven's eyes lit up and, eagerly, she took Lapis' hand. "Yeah, definitely! It's too hot out here anyway."

"I don't feel temperature."

"Still!"

Lapis bent down, forming wings of water behind herself, and Steven climbed onto her back. With a rush of air that made Steven cover her face from the cloud of sand and her dress to billow out around her legs, Lapis launched into the sky, and Steven stared down at the little peninsula of sand where they'd been standing. It was already covered in water.

"Oh nooooo," Steven whined.

"What?" said Lapis, tensing.

"I forgot my sunglasses!"

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my friend [Taylor](http://mothbeam.tumblr.com) for taking a look at this fic for me!


End file.
